Meat wholesaler sees increased turnover following £2m investment
Teesside meat processor and wholesaler Country Valley Foods has increased its workforce and turnover since securing £185,000 from the Let’s Grow Fund to invest in new premises and equipment.
Pictured: UNW’s Neville Bearpark with Stewart Munro of Country Valley Foods and Phil Sly from BE Group.
Let’s Grow, which is a £60 million regional growth fund project administered by the BE Group, supports the growth of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) in the north east.
Country Valley Foods, which supplies food to businesses across the north of England including retailers, hotels, restaurants, healthcare providers and food manufacturers, was approved for the grant in December 2014.
The grant was used as part of a total £2 million investment by Country Valley Foods in redeveloping and refitting its site.
The redevelopment has also seen an additional £600,000 spent on property, a £1 million fit-out, and £200,000 of butchery equipment added, including a packaging machine, burger machine and refrigeration system.
The project is set to create a total of 18 new jobs and safeguard 18 positions. Nine new employees have already been taken on, bringing the workforce at the site up to 85.
The business is now expecting to record a £20 million turnover in the current financial year, rising to £25 million in the next two years.
Country Valley Foods drew down its Let’s Grow funding in two tranches, the second of which was paid out in January this year. The money played a key role in buying and redeveloping land next to its existing base in Leeholme Road in Billingham and bringing the two facilities together, using more efficient equipment.
As a result of the grant, the company has introduced a state of the art meat processing and cutting plant, with a Himalayan rock salt maturation chill facility, separate red meat and chicken cutting areas, plus separation for its raw meat processing including burgers and sausage.
Chairman Stewart Munro, who co-founded Country Valley Foods in 1971, said: “The grant process was very straightforward and everyone involved was extremely helpful in assisting us in achieving our vision.
“Without the Let’s Grow grant, the Billingham project would have taken much longer to complete – it enabled us to progress and complete the project in one go, rather than in stages as and when we could afford to.”
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